Book Review: The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez

A heartening story about an American woman, Sunny, who owns and runs a coffee shop in Kabul. Sunny is an astute woman surrounded by characters who have their own emotional baggage, but rescues a young woman, Yazmina, from living on the streets or worse.

The story revolves around the coffee shop and all who work within. It’s a place that stands in contrast to all around it, as bombs and ancient culture predominate outside its walls.

Sunny needs to make a way to make the coffee house financially viable as it struggles to make a profit. Unwilling to admit defeat and return to the States, she tries different things to raise money, which leads to her meeting Isabel, a British journalist and Candace, a divorced American woman in love with an Afghan.

Despite being surrounded by the adversity of a war torn country, this group of women make positive progress and are enhanced after meeting each other.